Hey everyone, Hirokichi here. Today’s post is less about portfolio numbers and more about the infrastructure of the future. The topic is NTT’s next-generation communication vision “IOWN” (pronounced “eye-on”) and how it’s being extended into space. NTT is taking the optical communication technology it built on the ground and aiming to beat SpaceX on speed — a project I find genuinely exciting.
A quick refresher: what is IOWN?
IOWN is the next-generation communication infrastructure concept NTT has been pursuing since 2019. Its core is “optical-electrical fusion technology,” which processes and transmits data as light instead of converting it into electrical signals. Compared to conventional electricity-based networks, this is said to offer dramatically lower power consumption, larger capacity, and lower latency.
In Japan, services that connect data centers over optical networks have already launched, responding to the surge in AI-era data center demand (I covered this in an earlier post, “Why Data Centers Are the Beating Heart of the AI Era“). NTT is now looking to extend this same IOWN technology into space.
How fast is SpaceX’s inter-satellite optical link, really?
“Beating SpaceX” is a bold claim, so let’s start with what we’re comparing against. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has already put inter-satellite optical links (laser links) into commercial use to connect its Starlink satellites, and the speed is reportedly around 100Gbps (gigabits per second).
Using this optical link, SpaceX reportedly establishes about 266,000 optical connections per day, moving more than 42PB (petabytes) of data. Some reports say SpaceX caught up to technology that took research institutions 20 years to develop in roughly 5 years, which tells you how far ahead the company is in this field.
NTT’s IOWN space link targets 8x current speed
In response, NTT has been developing an “IOWN device for space communications” built on its optical-electrical fusion technology. Unveiled at the NTT R&D Forum in November 2025, the device aims to boost the current mainstream inter-satellite optical link speed of about 100Gbps up to roughly 800Gbps. That’s roughly 8x the current speed by simple math — some reports describe it as “more than 10x.”
In June 2026, NTT also announced a memorandum of understanding with MBRYONICS, an Irish company specializing in optical communication technology for space. Under the agreement, MBRYONICS will develop optical transceiver modules built around NTT’s digital coherent technology, aiming to have them installed on multiple commercial space optical communication terminals. NTT is targeting technology establishment within fiscal 2026, with commercialization expected around fiscal 2027-29.
The chart below summarizes the gap between SpaceX’s current speed and NTT’s target.
Laid out in numbers like this, you can really see how ambitious NTT’s target is. Of course, this is still a target figure, and how much of it actually gets realized in commercial products remains to be seen — but the direction is bold, and I think that’s worth paying attention to.
Why optical-electrical fusion enables such a leap in speed
Communication in space faces tighter constraints than on the ground. Equipment mounted on satellites has to work within limited power and weight budgets, so cutting power consumption and size while raising performance is essential. NTT’s optical-electrical fusion devices are said to achieve this by reducing the number of times a light signal has to be converted into an electrical one, allowing lower power consumption alongside smaller size and higher speed at the same time.
NTT has also laid out a broader concept called the “Space Integrated Computing & Network,” which links satellites and infrastructure across multiple altitudes — Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), and High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) — via optical wireless communication. Rather than simply speeding up a single link, NTT is trying to design the entirety of space as one giant optical network.
What this means for NTT (9432) as an investment
Let’s shift to the investor’s perspective for a moment. NTT (ticker 9432) is generally seen as a stable, defensive stock built on telecom revenue and shareholder returns like dividends and buybacks, but growth drivers such as IOWN and its space business are also part of the story investors watch. NTT Group launched its space business brand “NTT C89” in June 2024, signaling a clear intent to accelerate investment in the space sector.
That said, IOWN’s space expansion is still at the technology-establishment and verification stage, with commercialization not expected until fiscal 2027 at the earliest. The near-term earnings impact should be viewed as limited for now. Still, the fact that NTT, as a telecom carrier, has a genuine new growth frontier in “space x optical communication” is worth keeping in mind when thinking about the company’s medium- to long-term value. NTT has also announced its 16th consecutive year of dividend increases for fiscal 2026 — combined with that shareholder-return story, this kind of technological strength is another angle worth watching.
What to watch going forward
Here are the key points I’ll be watching:
(1) How far the MBRYONICS partnership progresses, and whether the actual optical transceiver modules get completed.
(2) Whether the technology-establishment target for fiscal 2026 stays on track, and whether the fiscal 2027-29 commercialization timeline holds.
(3) How much of NTT’s technology gets adopted in the competition for customers against major overseas space communication players like SpaceX.
Competition in space communications is likely to intensify further as satellite internet services like Starlink continue to expand. I’ll be keeping an eye on how much presence Japan-born optical communication technology can build in this race.
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* This article is for informational purposes only and does not recommend any specific investment. Please make investment decisions at your own responsibility.
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